Page 32 of The Edge of Darkness

And it had the necessary effect. The High Lord halted his retreat.

“You dare give orders to me?” he said.

In the stillness, Morah looked up to the ceiling, straining under her father’s hold. Her hands slowly lifted at her sides, like she was offering a silent prayer to the gods.

Ramil’s face grew gravely serious, and a pit formed in my stomach at the sight of it. I knew what his next move would be.

“When I ask for something,” he said in a now disturbingly calm voice, “it shall be done. And the price you pay for disobeying my orders . . .” He trailed off as he moved to draw his blade across his daughter’s throat.

“MORAH!” I screamed, but Morah’s eyes flashed, and she wraith-walked backwards through her father, disappearing completely.

His blade slid across empty air.

Before I had time to comprehend what she’d just done, or the fact that she had used her power when we all thought she had spent too much of it porting us, she appeared by my side, clutching onto me.

Wide-eyed at her escape, Ramil whirled and snarled, but Maeson stood from the base of the altar and sent a wall of flame barreling toward him, giving him no time to retaliate. He tossed up a shield to block it, but she held fast, maintaining the onslaught so that we could escape.

“Let’s go!” she yelled as she backed toward the door. There was no telling how much power she had spent coaxing Fallon back to this side of life, but I imagined she was nearly drained.

Remic grabbed Morah while Silas scooped up Fallon, his wings flaring to propel him in one movement to the other side of the chamber.

Niall hoisted Roirdan up with an arm underneath him to support his weight and hauled him to the door.

I moved in their direction, keeping my eyes on Ramil, when my vision snagged on the stone dangling from his neck . . . as if it were taunting me.

The Alatyr.

“Wipe the wards!” Remic yelled as he reached the door along with everyone else. “Auren!”

Maeson’s fire was still holding Ramil back, but it wouldn’t last much longer.

In a last-ditch effort, I reached my hand out and willed the Alatyr to come to me. My power met the resistance of Ramil’s shield, then pushed right through it. Ramil realized what I’d done a moment too late, as the chain snapped free from his neck. It soared through Maeson’s wall of fire, across the chamber, and into my grasp. I clutched it tight and then refocused my power, commanding the wards to fall. As they did, everyone escaped into the hallway, and I disappeared through the door just as Maeson’s fire burned out and the wards slid back into place.

In the hallway, I was met with heavy breaths and a pained groan from Roirdan.

I grasped onto Niall.

“Calledan,” he commanded, and we left Benmoor in a puff of dust.

Roirdan, Auren, and I landed rather roughly on the patio of The Keep, next to Remic and Morah. Across the patio, Maeson landed and stumbled to the edge, grasping the waist-high stone wall, clearly exhausted from the work she had done on Fallon.

Roirdan groaned and collapsed onto the ground next to me, clutching his forearm.

“Shit,” I cursed under my breath as I yanked the cloth away from my face.

I dropped to my knees and pushed Roirdan’s sleeve up. The veins in his arm had turned black around the bite mark, and whatever substance had penetrated his skin looked to be slowly spreading.

“Morah,” I called out, “what were those creatures your father summoned?”

She slid over to us, tossing her face covering aside and grabbing Roirdan’s arm. He hissed in pain. “I don’t know, I’ve never seen anything like them in Benmoor before,” she said.

“Where’s Fallon? And Silas?” Auren asked, concern flaring in her voice. She scrambled to her feet, swaying as she looked around.

“I had them in my grasp just a moment ago . . .” Morah answered, turning to search.

Auren clambered to the patio’s edge and peered down the mountain. “What if they—” She stopped herself mid-sentence as she caught sight of something down the cliff.

Remic stalked to her side to see what she was looking at.